British Gurkha war hero now fights for equality, pension rights
LONDON: Rambahadur Limbu is one of Britain’s greatest living war heroes, yet the 74-year-old feels dishonoured by the way the country has treated Gurkha soldiers like him.
Standing with his walking stick outside the Houses of Parliament in London, few who pass the old Nepalese warrior would recognise his name or the Victoria Cross (VC) on his chest. Fewer still would know the short, stocky farmer is among just four people alive who won the highest possible military honour serving in the British armed forces - an award given only for extreme bravery in the face of the enemy.
Captain Limbu is in London for perhaps the last time to wage one final campaign: a push for retired Nepalese Gurkhas to receive the same pensions and welfare as British comrades. He gave evidence to the Gurkha Welfare Inquiry, a panel of lawmakers examining veterans’ grievances, which holds a final hearing on Wednesday.
Limbu said: “I enlisted in the army in 1957 and for the first 18 years of my career, I always regarded the British and the Gurkhas as equal, and I thought the British were the best friends we could ever have.” But from then on, he saw “discrimination in every area of life in the army, and that included accommodation, food, pay anything you name”.
Limbu proudly wears his VC, an award bestowed by Queen Elizabeth II in 1966 for his actions in Borneo during the Indonesian-Malaysian Confrontation.